Marty, Francois Cardinal

▪ 1995

      French Roman Catholic prelate (b. May 18, 1904, Pachins, France—d. Feb. 16, 1994, near Villefranche-de-Rouergue, France), as archbishop of Paris (1968-81), was primate of France during the months of civil and political unrest in 1968 and the difficult years thereafter. Marty received a doctorate in theology from the Catholic Institute in Toulouse. He was ordained in 1930, made bishop of Saint-Flour in 1952, and elevated to archbishop of Rheims in 1960. He was created cardinal in April 1969, a year after taking his post as head of the French church at Notre-Dame. Marty was a vigorous advocate for disaffected labourers and for non-Christian immigrant workers. In 1962 he was asked by Pope John XXIII to prepare a report for the Second Vatican Council on teaching the gospel to the working class. Upon taking his post as archbishop of Paris, he reduced the church hierarchy and introduced a more conciliatory, activist approach to the ministry. Marty retired to a Dominican convent in 1981.

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